Things at AUC

This week AUC opened their athletic facilities, which are actually very good. Construction is still ongoing, but it's good enough to use. There is a great 400m rubber track, two soccer fields, Olympic-size pool, indoor gymnasium, basketball courts, and workout rooms. Having something to use on campus means I can be a little more efficient with my time between classes. The locker rooms aren't ready yet, but when they are I should be able to keep my stuff on campus while I go run outside campus. There is so much open space immediately outside the campus, so I'm really excited to run there.

I've also discovered that the AUC library has a very good collection of books. The collection doesn't compare to that of Fordham's library, but there is a great selection of books on regional and language topics, which are of interest to me. The bottom two floors tend to be very noisy, as the Egyptian students don't seem to value "study volume." However the top two floors are very quiet and there is a great view of the desert outside New Cairo.

Since the first week of classes I've been taking the bus from Tahrir Square in Downtown, which involves leaving twenty minutes before the bus leaves to take the metro from Doqqi to Sadat. During my first week here, I waited at the bus pickup in Doqqi, but the bus didn't stop. Yesterday I took the Doqqi/Mohandeseen bus from the starting point in Mohandeseen to find out exactly where the Doqqi stop was. I got on the bus today from the stop at Cinema Tahrir in Doqqi, which is much more convenient than going to Downtown every day, as I get to save 1 L.E. metro fare and twenty minutes of travel. Cinema Tahrir is only about eight minutes walk from my apartment, across from the Russian Cultural Center.

As an aside, the Russian Cultural Center and the Russian Embassy, both located in my neighborhood, are comparatively prominent buildings in Doqqi. I haven't noticed any evidence of a Russian community within Doqqi, but I suppose the Russian influence must be somewhat significant in Cairo, if only as a remnant of Soviet aid.

I went to Mass yesterday at St. Joseph's in Downtown for Ash Wednesday, but it turned out to be a regular weekday Mass in French, for some reason. I realized I can't understand a word of French.

A lot of people are talking about what seems to be the biggest event of the weekend: hip-hop artist Akon performing tonight at the Cairo Opera house. I think tickets are 150 L.E. I'm not interested in attending.

I'm going to make sure I visit some interesting places this weekend, but I haven't yet decided which ones.